"There were several B24 parts that could not be ordered from the supply house. One that I remember was an arm about 4 inches long that operated a light which indicated landing gear position. I bet I made at least several hundred of these. Each plane only had three, but I think all of the mechanics carried them in their pockets.
Another often made part was a short cable with turnbuckles that the crew chiefs wanted. They could use these to splice a cable in midair (after being shot up), so the plane could make it home.
Many ideas were thought of and developed that would help get the job done. One of the most important was an electric bomb hoist used to load bombs, rather than having to crank them by hand.
After we were there about a year, one of the officers down at the bomb group was walking guard and came upon an Italian in the process of stealing clothes. He yelled, "Halt", twice and then shot over the Italian's head--or said he tried to shoot over his head--but he hit him square in the back of the head. After this happened, there came an order down that anyone who shot a native Italian had to leave and be shipped to another outfit. That was all right with us. Most of us had enough time in to get rotated home anyway.
One night while walking guard, I noticed the guard before me had been walking around the camp to the left. I reversed it and went around to the right. Sure enough, here came about four Italians out of the supply tent. I yelled, "Halt", then I yelled again and cocked the gun. Next I shot as near correct as possible--then again and again--each time the one I had aimed at would fall, then at the next shot, the one that fell would get up again. This continued until all shells were gone. Then came all our officers to see what I was doing. One officer still had his pistol wrapped up. He couldn't have shot it, if his life depended on it. I asked him to explain its usefulness, which he couldn't.
It was soon breakfast time. They relieved me from guard duty so I could eat. By the time I got to the mess hall, the story had already beat me there. Everybody was warned not to mess with those guys from the Blue Ridge Mountains! I did shoot the bags of clothes out of their hands without hitting any of them, but I didn't get to go home because of it. Anyway the whole outfit knew that I would shoot if needed. They did not have to announce it. My commanding officer came around and said, "he would not change a thing. We put the fear in the Italians without killing anyone, and the C.O. does not have to write a report."
To be continued...
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Mystery of the Painful Hip
I had my follow-up appointment on Friday for my hip MRI. Turns out I have a labral tear.
Solution: surgery. I have decided, however, not to get surgery and instead deal with the pain until it's no longer bearable. Really, at this point, it's not impacting my day to day activities anyway. Well, as long as you don't count adjusting how I sit on the couch or how I sleep a day to day activity.
Conclusion: I will never snowboard again. :oD
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| www.hiplabraltear.net/ |
Conclusion: I will never snowboard again. :oD
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
So exciting
It's my morning ritual to check my email before I get out of bed (what has the world come to?!) and I was greeted with such a wonderful surprise...my first AVON sale!
So exciting!
Just a little shameless plug: please click here to visit my website. Free shipping with a $30 order and a free gift courtesy of my crafty hands! What more can one ask for?? And a lot of times the prices are cheaper than what's listed depending on what you pick out...I added some things that were listed as $6 & $7 but in my cart were actually $4. I can go for that.
Don't forget that AVON sells more than just makeup...I'm loving the Summer section (Campaign 16, pg 134-137)!
Until next time friends.
So exciting!
Just a little shameless plug: please click here to visit my website. Free shipping with a $30 order and a free gift courtesy of my crafty hands! What more can one ask for?? And a lot of times the prices are cheaper than what's listed depending on what you pick out...I added some things that were listed as $6 & $7 but in my cart were actually $4. I can go for that.
Don't forget that AVON sells more than just makeup...I'm loving the Summer section (Campaign 16, pg 134-137)!
Until next time friends.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
"In Italy..." Part 2
"They shipped us to three different outfits before we found one that had room to keep us. I ended up at the 58th Service Squadron at Grottaglie, making parts for B-24s. Our job was to repair combat damage when it was greater than could be repaired by Bomb Group routine maintenance.
We ended up on the hill with only on tent available. It was an empty tent, except the women who were grazing their sheep on that hill used the tent to get out of the hot sun, so we ended up in their resting place. Now there was no latrine anywhere near, but on top of that hill they had dug a hole, buried a barrel, and put boards on top of the barrel--that was our latrine. You would sit there with a braced sheet, and there you were with your coveralls pulled down when you went to the latrine. Now that was during a snow storm! And it's kinda cold on top of a hill with your coveralls pulled down, but that was the only latrine we had when we first arrived. So some of my first memories of being at Grottaglie, was being at the top of a hill in the middle of a snow storm with my coveralls down around my ankles!
Now the women grazing sheep on the hill had eating habits that would turn your stomach. They would pick greens for their meal in the same area that the sheep were grazing. I didn't want any of their greens!
When we were in this camp there were 8 men to a tent. After a while, we learned of space available in another tent elsewhere in the camp, so we moved off the hill. Now while in Grottaglie, there was a 10 year old Italian boy named Louigie who would come through the camp each day with fresh eggs. We didn't know where he got them. He would trade these fresh eggs for candy. We were rationed one bar of candy and one beer a day, and I didn't need the beer, so I would trade the beer for candy. The other guys in the camp were glad to trade their candy for my beer. Well, I would then trade the candy for fresh eggs, so I always had eggs, at least one a day. But I didn't have a frying pan, so I would go down to the mess hall and get a cook to fry the eggs for me. I had eggs when nobody else in camp had any.
In 1998 during a trip to Italy, I located where the base had been. At a bar nearby, I spoke to a man who said he was 10 years old when we were there. It turns out that he was Louigie--I had found him again."
To be continued...
We ended up on the hill with only on tent available. It was an empty tent, except the women who were grazing their sheep on that hill used the tent to get out of the hot sun, so we ended up in their resting place. Now there was no latrine anywhere near, but on top of that hill they had dug a hole, buried a barrel, and put boards on top of the barrel--that was our latrine. You would sit there with a braced sheet, and there you were with your coveralls pulled down when you went to the latrine. Now that was during a snow storm! And it's kinda cold on top of a hill with your coveralls pulled down, but that was the only latrine we had when we first arrived. So some of my first memories of being at Grottaglie, was being at the top of a hill in the middle of a snow storm with my coveralls down around my ankles!
Now the women grazing sheep on the hill had eating habits that would turn your stomach. They would pick greens for their meal in the same area that the sheep were grazing. I didn't want any of their greens!
When we were in this camp there were 8 men to a tent. After a while, we learned of space available in another tent elsewhere in the camp, so we moved off the hill. Now while in Grottaglie, there was a 10 year old Italian boy named Louigie who would come through the camp each day with fresh eggs. We didn't know where he got them. He would trade these fresh eggs for candy. We were rationed one bar of candy and one beer a day, and I didn't need the beer, so I would trade the beer for candy. The other guys in the camp were glad to trade their candy for my beer. Well, I would then trade the candy for fresh eggs, so I always had eggs, at least one a day. But I didn't have a frying pan, so I would go down to the mess hall and get a cook to fry the eggs for me. I had eggs when nobody else in camp had any.
In 1998 during a trip to Italy, I located where the base had been. At a bar nearby, I spoke to a man who said he was 10 years old when we were there. It turns out that he was Louigie--I had found him again."
To be continued...
Jello shots all around!
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| Image from amazon.com |
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